Assuming it to be his Majesty's will that, in the encomiendas where,
for lack of ministers, instruction is not given, some tribute
shall be collected, if only in recognition of services rendered,
it seems but fitting that enough should be collected to sustain the
encomendero--or, if he should abandon the encomienda, some person
who should continue, in his stead, intercourse and relations with the
Indians, so influencing and directing them that, when they are given
instruction, they may receive it willingly; and settling the minds of
the Indians, so that we can deal with them and travel among them. Such
persons or encomenderos are accessory to the gospel, and should be
supported, as ministers are, by the tributes of the Indians--who,
if deprived of their presence and left without this intercourse, will
doubtless become intractable, and a country which is at present secure
and orderly will require a fresh pacification. Accordingly I say that
if your Lordship should order the encomendero to appropriate, for his
own maintenance and for necessary expenses (which are so great, and
the encomiendas so small), [three--M.] [47] fourths of the tributes,
and if the remaining fourth should [be used--M.] for the erection of a
church, for ornaments, and other accessories of religious instruction;
or, if this fourth part should be remitted to the Indians (although,
in reality, if they think that by not becoming Christians less will be
exacted from them, they will never become Christians or admit fathers
into their territory; and it is certainly better for the Indians to
have this fourth part held as a deposit for the three years, since at
the end of that time [they can add--M.] to it a tribute, and assist
in paying the expenses of erecting the church and the costs of other
accessories of instruction and other necessary expenses which may
arise); and if the above should be asked from them in advance, and
as a whole--I maintain, that all this could not be exacted without
great injury to the Indians.
This tribute should be collected with much gentleness toward the
Indians, without the presence of soldiers and firearms, and without
entering their houses. One house should, however, be set apart for
the purpose of making these collections, where the Indians, summoned
in friendly terms, may come voluntarily to pay their tributes; and
no other force or pressure should be imposed upon them. Moreover,
of the increase of two reals in the tributes, only one (and no more)
should be exacted, and the aforesaid collection of the three-fourths
should be general in all the encomiendas. There are no grounds for
making a discrimination between the Indian of the large encomienda and
the Indian of the small one; and if it is right to collect in the one,
the same procedure holds good in the other, for the same thing applies
to [four--M.] as to forty, which in this case would mean not to change
the present and past condition of things, or the universal practice
throughout all the Indias, by interfering with his Majesty's decree.
We should consider how little there is in this country besides
the tributes, for the support of the encomendero or such person
who has to represent him; and that, if the Indians should cease
to pay the tributes, all would go to destruction; and even were
religious instruction to exist, there would be no system for applying
it. This instruction, moreover, is not at present in the hands of
the encomenderos, for they have asked me, as I believe they have your
Lordship, to make provision for the same, offering the necessary salary
and expenses. Accordingly, since this charge is not in their hands,
the above means might be justly employed; so that the districts which
are disaffected might, with such intercourse, be prepared to receive
the gospel in due time.
This plan can be followed temporarily, until information concerning
it shall reach his Majesty--who, I assure your Lordship, will
straightway adjust the matter by providing these islands, as well as
those most distant and as yet unpacified, with sufficient religious
instruction; and by determining what share of the cost shall fall to
the encomenderos according to the detailed information and report
which shall be sent hence to him, together with your Lordship's
statement. Thus all will come to enjoy the fruits of the gospel,
which is our principal end and object with these peoples. In return,
they are to offer this moderate tribute, which is to facilitate
their conversion, to which end everything is directed; and to prepare
them for it by this means, without which there would be no way for
endeavoring to interest anyone, even if the tribute should amount to
many millions. But, with this justification, it can be levied.
The encomenderos shall maintain their residence, and, as your
Lordship justly suggests, shall provide a good example and fair
treatment toward the Indians of their encomiendas. And, in order
that the latter may receive (as your Lordship says) some recompense
in return, orders shall be given that all the encomiendas, however
remote they may be, shall be provided with some administration of
justice, with orders to the alcaldes-mayor in whose district these
encomiendas chance to be to visit, at stated periods of the year,
the Indians thereof. The officials shall then settle the disputes
and redress the grievances of the Indians, bringing them by kind
acts into intercourse and friendship with us. Where the present
number of alcaldes-mayor is not large enough, others shall be sent,
in order that thus may be facilitated our intercourse and influence
among them. Under this pretext of administration of justice and of
defense, at least a sufficient maintenance may be derived.
Let your Lordship take this matter into careful consideration. For
my own part, cogent reasons oblige me to believe that, if this plan
be not carried out, the encomenderos much of necessity abandon their
encomiendas, as has [_illegible in MS._] and no one will be found
willing to burden himself with this charge and enter into relations
with the Indians, in return for so small a stipend. Even if there were
such persons, we could not place in them the confidence that we now
have in the encomenderos, in whose virtue and Christian spirit his
Majesty's conscience remains at rest. This would not be so secure in
the care of substitutes, who replace persons who have abandoned their
holdings, for lack [_illegible in MS._] without much fear of being
obliged to give a bad account of either themselves or the Indians;
and, consequently, instead of introducing our holy faith among them,
would only irritate the natives by oppression and ill-treatment.
This being so, if the encomenderos should abandon their offices, and
no capable persons could be found in their stead, the rule of the
Spaniards would come to an end in this land; for, as they possess
here nothing beyond the encomiendas as a source of profit and a
recompense for their services, if they should be deprived of these
I fear that they all would depart from the country and it would be
depopulated. In such a case, let your Lordship consider which of
the two evils is the less, and which should be preferred: namely,
that matters should remain in their present and past condition until
his Majesty, after thorough information, make suitable provision;
or that, in order to remedy this insignificant evil, we should run
the risk of ruining and depopulating all the islands. I, my Lord,
have not the slightest inclination to go to hell merely because the
encomendero collects one or two thousand. After all, whatever your
Lordship may consent to, and whatever we resolve to do, must be carried
out, and I must order it to be executed, with the utmost promptness;
for I understand this to be a matter which concerns the welfare of
my conscience, wherein his Majesty unburdens his. But at present,
I am thinking only of the difficulties involved in the execution of
this act, which must be so hard for the encomenderos. When, in the
establishment and accomplishment of a thing which in itself may be holy
and good, there exist such obstacles that by means of them the whole
is exposed to risk and danger, and the principal [_illegible in MS._],
as your Lordship may discern in the case of the religious fathers,
who, because they attempted to place the Indians in charge of justice,
desired them to give up all, and thus there was constraint. Yet they
had charity and love for them, for otherwise all would be lost. The
same injury will be inflicted on the encomendero, if we oblige him to
relinquish the tribute, and give him no other means of support. This
the king can do, by the decree which is expected.
It is certain that the very success of the affair admits of no other
outcome than this. For, assuming that his Majesty, to unburden his
own conscience, should commit to your Lordship and to myself the
conduct and decision of what should be done in this matter, and should
order me to execute what we both might determine, and agree upon,
provided your Lordship should decide that what you have set down in
your opinion and in your conclusions, ought in conscience to be done;
and if I should find that, although such action is just and right
according to law, yet in attempting to carry it out it would be in
no wise proper to run the risk of ruining these islands--in this case
your Lordship and I do not hold the same opinions, and we should report
this to his Majesty. In the meantime matters will remain as they now
are; and, if resolutions must be adopted, it is much better that we
should propose them conjointly to his Majesty, with complete harmony
and satisfaction on our part, in order that he may give such orders
as shall seem best to him. In the meantime we should not undertake
[_illegible in MS._] all the more because, considering the affair
in its beginnings, the commission and order of his Majesty--which
instruct me to see that your Lordship consider what should and can
be done in this matter; and also to execute the resolutions made
by our joint agreement, with all the punctuality which is required
therein--clearly express the will and determination of his Majesty,
who mentions only the encomiendas which are at present disaffected,
or have never been pacified. It is only concerning these latter,
that doubts may be entertained as to the question of collecting
the tributes, either in whole or in part (by way of recognition,
as is stated in your opinion). These encomiendas are not reached by
religious teaching, or by the administration of justice, or by other
advantages; and, consequently, are the ones concerning which, as I
have said, doubts are entertained. As for those encomiendas which may
possess any of the aforesaid benefits, such as religious teaching,
the administration of justice, intercourse, and other advantageous
relations, there is no occasion for any dispute concerning them; nor
should the management of these (as far as our present knowledge goes)
be committed to your Lordship. It is, therefore, needless to include
them in the general rule; but in dealing with the encomiendas which
are disaffected, and in those not yet pacified, only a part of the
tribute should be collected, for the unburdening of his Majesty's
and our own consciences. Your Lordship's, etc.
The Petition Presented to the Governor by the City and the Encomenderos
on the Fifteenth of February, 1591
We, the corporation and magistrates of the city of Manila, for
ourselves, and in the name of all these Filipinas Islands, and of their
encomenderos, settlers, and discoverers, do declare the following: As
is well known, many of us came here twenty-seven years ago, when these
islands were discovered, and have spent years in the propagation of
our holy Catholic faith, the defense of the preaching of the gospel,
and the service of the king, our lord. On account of this devotion
we abandoned our fatherland, and forgot our parents, brothers, and
relatives, and the comforts which each one of us possessed; and after
having endured the great dangers of a long and hitherto unknown voyage,
we settled in a land where we have shed our blood, and suffered the
fearful miseries of hunger, thirst, exposure, and many other hardships,
so great that they have cost the lives of the many thousands of men
who are known to have come to these islands--not to mention all those
valiant soldiers who serve his Majesty throughout his realm. At the
conclusion of so many toils and misfortunes--after we had made this
discovery, and had pacified and brought under the royal crown the
many vassals who today are to be found throughout these islands,
and had brought to the bosom of our faith the great number of souls
who have already received baptism--his Majesty and the governors
in his name have rewarded us by allotting to us a certain number of
natives. But these grants are under such limitations and the tributes
are so moderate that the most prosperous among us (and there are but
few) are living in straitened circumstances, and the others do not
receive the half of what is necessary for their sustenance; many of
these have no recompense. Although our possessions are so scanty, we
have been content therewith, inasmuch as we consider them as being a
reward which we have won with our blood and so great labors; for we
are thereby encouraged to serve our Lord and his Majesty--enjoying,
as we do, these tributes and encomiendas in tranquil and peaceable
possession of them, after they have been assigned to us. The king,
our lord, also is profited by those who hold positions in the service
of his royal crown; for they, with the tributes, assist in the great
expenses which his royal patrimony incurs for the churches, religious
orders, and ministers of the evangelical teaching, and for the
supplies necessary for their maintenance. In this state of affairs it
seems that on the part of the bishop of these islands and some of the
religious thereof--not only generally, in sermons and in the pulpit,
but privately, in the confessional--obstacles and difficulties are
imposed upon our consciences by maintaining that we cannot exact the
[_illegible in MS._] his Majesty those which he exacts, and that we
are going straight to hell [_illegible in MS._] and that we are under
obligation to make restitution for them. For this reason they refuse
us the sacraments of absolution and communion; and, finally, they
so obstruct us in the collection of this slender means of livelihood
that we, and in fact the whole colony, are continually disconsolate
and afflicted, and our consciences disturbed and ill at ease. We know
not what plan we are to pursue in making these collections; for if we
submit to the constraint which the aforesaid bishop and a portion of
the religious would impose upon us, the necessary result will be that
we cannot support ourselves, or even live; and his Majesty will be
unable to meet the costs and expenses necessary for the preservation
of the land--although our aim now as always, is to live and die in
the service of his Majesty like faithful and loyal vassals.
We therefore entreat and supplicate your Lordship--inasmuch as the
royal presence is so distant, and his authority is delegated to
you in order to preserve us in peace and justice--to decree, in the
name of his Majesty, as the person from whose hand we possess these
encomiendas, that orders and explicit statements be given us as to what
extent and in what manner we are to collect the aforesaid tributes, in
order that with definite knowledge and freedom from misunderstanding,
and without this present trouble and confusion, we may collect them
by virtue of the order which your Lordship may give us to make such
collections. And so likewise do we entreat your Lordship to command
that his Majesty be informed as promptly as possible of what your
Lordship shall order and decree, so that he may confirm and approve it,
and determine what plan shall be pursued in this matter; and so that
we may know and abide by it, and thus be delivered from these scruples
and anxieties. In case the above should not be done as we petition,
we would be deprived of part of the little that we possess; and,
if compelled to make our collections in conformity with the ideas of
the bishop and some of the religious, we shall not be able to support
ourselves. We therefore entreat your Lordship, inasmuch as we do not
depart from or fail in what we owe to the service of his Majesty as his
loyal vassals, to give us permission to depart for Spain, where we may
serve his Majesty in what he shall command us to do, and where he may
favor us in proportion to the quality of the services of each one of
us; thus we shall receive grace and justice, which is what we request.
_Francisco Mereado Dandrade_
_Pedro Davalos y Vargas_
_Juan de Moron_
_Diego de Castillo_
_Juan Pacheco Maldonado_
_Don Francisco de Poca y Pendara_
_Hernan Gomez de Cespedes_
_Don Luis Enriques de Guzman_
_Antonio de Canedo_
_Alonso Garrido de Salcedo_
[The remaining documents on tributes are presented partly in full,
partly in synopsis, because of the repetitions and diffuseness which
are frequent therein. Such parts as are thus synopsized will appear
in brackets.]